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Live-Action Pokemon Movie Casts Big Little Lies Star as Female Lead

Legendary’s live-action Pokemon movie Detective Pikachu has found its female lead in Big Little Lies star Kathryn Newton. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Newton will star opposite Get Down‘s Justice Smith, who joined the project earlier this month. Newton will play Lucy, “a sassy journalist who goes on an adventure” with Smith’s character and Pikachu.

Few details details are known about the project, although it’s expected to draw from the Japanese 2016 point-and-click adventure game Great Detective Pikachu. In the game, Newton’s character Lucy has a Psyduck sidekick, but it is unclear at this time if her Pokemon partner will show up in the movie.

Pokemon became a phenomenon when Pokemon Red and Blue made their way to the United States back in 1998, after originally being introduced in Japan two years prior. The series has spawned countless video games, a television series and an animated movie, as well as the incredibly popular app Pokemon Go!

Detective Pikachu does not currently have a release date. Rob Letterman (Goosebumps) is set to direct the film based on a screenplay by Alex Hirsch (Gravity Falls) and Nicole Perlman (Guardians of the Galaxy). Universal Pictures is set to handle the distribution for Detective Pikachu outside of Japan, while The Pokémon Company’s long time movie collaborator Toho will take on the distribution of the film franchise in Japan.